\parindent only works for very few paragraphs in latex

Question

I used the \setlength\parindent{12pt} to try to add indent at the beginning of every paragraphs. But it only works for very few paragraphs (7 paragraphs in chapter 1 only 1 paragraph got indented.).

Since I am using a Latex template of the thesis from my school. I cannot give an example of my problem here. Could anyone please give me some suggestion what may cause this kind of problem?

I got no errors but 4 warnings and 92 bad boxes after when I tried to create the pdf. But everything in the pdf looks fine( different tables, plots, bullet points all looks fine) except the indent.

It seems like latex cannot detect the paragraphs correctly. (I use \\ to separate paragraphs) Because I also tried to set \parskip to a particular value, it only works for adding space between chapter/section names and paragraphs, didn't add space between paragraphs, either.

a line ended with a double backslash won't be recognized as a paragraph break (see When to use \par and when \\) and thus the next "paragraph" won't be indented. you should use either \par or a blank line to end one paragraph and start a new one. — barbara beeton, Sep 30 '14 at 17:28

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Using \\ to separate paragraphs is incorrect.

Either use an explicit \par or an empty/blank line:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

\section{A section}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
Suspendisse suscipit ipsum sed sem varius, quis scelerisque 
quam lacinia. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Phasellus vel 
lorem quis nulla consectetur iaculis eu ut ex. Curabitur vitae 
feugiat mi. Aliquam rutrum et justo vitae semper. In vel aliquam
magna. Donec magna sem, ultrices nec nisl vel, accumsan euismod sapien.\\
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
Suspendisse suscipit ipsum sed sem varius, quis scelerisque 
quam lacinia. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Phasellus vel 
lorem quis nulla consectetur iaculis eu ut ex. Curabitur vitae 
feugiat mi. Aliquam rutrum et justo vitae semper. In vel aliquam
magna. Donec magna sem, ultrices nec nisl vel, accumsan euismod sapien.

\section{A section}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
Suspendisse suscipit ipsum sed sem varius, quis scelerisque 
quam lacinia. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Phasellus vel 
lorem quis nulla consectetur iaculis eu ut ex. Curabitur vitae 
feugiat mi. Aliquam rutrum et justo vitae semper. In vel aliquam
magna. Donec magna sem, ultrices nec nisl vel, accumsan euismod sapien.\par
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
Suspendisse suscipit ipsum sed sem varius, quis scelerisque 
quam lacinia. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Phasellus vel 
lorem quis nulla consectetur iaculis eu ut ex. Curabitur vitae 
feugiat mi. Aliquam rutrum et justo vitae semper. In vel aliquam
magna. Donec magna sem, ultrices nec nisl vel, accumsan euismod sapien.

\section{A section}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
Suspendisse suscipit ipsum sed sem varius, quis scelerisque 
quam lacinia. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Phasellus vel 
lorem quis nulla consectetur iaculis eu ut ex. Curabitur vitae 
feugiat mi. Aliquam rutrum et justo vitae semper. In vel aliquam
magna. Donec magna sem, ultrices nec nisl vel, accumsan euismod sapien.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
Suspendisse suscipit ipsum sed sem varius, quis scelerisque 
quam lacinia. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Phasellus vel 
lorem quis nulla consectetur iaculis eu ut ex. Curabitur vitae 
feugiat mi. Aliquam rutrum et justo vitae semper. In vel aliquam
magna. Donec magna sem, ultrices nec nisl vel, accumsan euismod sapien.

\end{document}

If you wish the first paragraph after a section to be indented as well, then you can force it with a \hspace*{\parindent} or use the indentfirst package. See No indent in the first paragraph in a section?.

\parindent only works for very few paragraphs in latex

1 Answers1